Sunkissed
by HuesoftheMorning
Summary: Sometimes all it takes is a simple wish to make miracles happen. HonoEli


Honoka takes great pride in her job caring for the sunflower fields. Every morning she wakes up to a clear blue sky, opening the window to breathe in the fresh air and listen to the birds sing. Then she jumps out of bed, quilt thrown haphazardly back over the covers as she skips into the kitchen. After savoring a breakfast of warm bread, she grabs her basket and lunch and heads outside, ready for a day of work.

The sunflowers stretch for miles, as far as the eye can see. Their yellow heads bob in greeting before turning back to face the golden sun. Honoka calls out to them, wishing them a good morning and telling them all about her dreams from the night before. Then she meanders through the tall stalks, checking leaves and petals for sign of sickness and talking to the flowers the whole while. She hums as she works, sometimes sings when the breeze is warm and the day bright, but mostly she just thinks.

"Hey, Miss Sunflower," she says, looking up at the tall flower, "do you think magic exists?"

The sunflower dips in the breeze, its petal's brushing Honoka's forehead. She giggles at the sensation, patting the center of the flower before it straightens to reach the sun again.

"Is that a yes, Miss Sunflower?"

Honoka moves on, whistling a happy tune. She didn't know the answer. Her friend tending the tomato fields didn't think so, scoffing at the notion. We learned our trades from our mothers and grandmothers and all the women before us, she said, it's not magic. But the girl who watched over all the birds in the land said that she wouldn't be surprised, said that some things seemed a little more magic than normal.

What about things that required lots of magic? Honoka had asked more friends, seeking opinions. You mean miracles, one friend had said, the one who walked on ripples as she cared for the oceans. I don't think so, she had said. Wouldn't we know?

Maybe we haven't needed any miracles, a friend had suggested. I'm happy here, surrounded by my fields of rice, I don't need any miracles. Do you? No, another friend had said, cats curled up in her arms. I'm as happy as can be!

"I'm happy too," Honoka whispers, her words almost lost amid the rustling stalks. And she is, really. She loves her sunflowers, loves taking care of them and getting lost amongst them, surrounded in her own private green and yellow forest. But sunflowers, despite their bright happy faces, do not make very good friends.

It has been a long time since Honoka has seen her friends. They had played together when they were young, all those centuries ago, but now they only met up once every few decades. Honoka's shoulders slump as she counts the years left on her fingers, barely paying attention to where she's walking. The flowers seem to lead her, moving aside the slightest bit to urge her up and up to the top of the tallest hill.

There, all alone, stands a single sunflower. The tallest sunflower of them all, stretching far above Honoka's head, yellow petals straining for the sun. Honoka reaches up, fingers just barely brushing them.

"You're alone too, aren't you, sunflower? All of your friends are far below. You have no one to talk to. But don't worry!" Honoka smiles, patting the stalk, "you can always talk to me!"

The sun is high. There are still hundreds of sunflowers to see and care for, and Honoka does not have time to worry about loneliness and miracles. She waves one more time to the tall sunflower before heading down the hill to the rest of the waiting flowers. She has a job to do.

At night, curled up under the quilt with a mug of hot chocolate in her hands, the loneliness returns. Honoka leans against the window, looking out at the dark sky above. A star appears out of the deep blue and she focuses on it, watching it twinkle with all its might.

She whispers: "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight."

 _I wish for a friend to share my field with._

 _I wish for someone who will always be by my side._

 _I wish…_

In the morning the star is forgotten. Honoka leaps out of bed at the first bird's song, spinning in circles across the wooden floor of her cabin as she dances to the music. She grabs her supplies and whirls out of the house, skipping into the sunflower fields. Energy fills her, bright as the sun, and no worries plague her as she performs her duties.

The sunflowers guide her once again to the tall hill and Honoka follows them gladly, wanting to make good on her promise from the other day. It would be the perfect place to have lunch too, sunny and warm and all the sunflowers below dancing in the wind. Her lunch is nearly lost when she finds not the tallest sunflower but a tall girl instead. Yellow hair falls past her shoulders, curling at the ends and brushing against the green dress that falls just below her knees. Her eyes are the clear blue of the sky as she turns to Honoka, her smile bright as the sun.

"Hello. I take it you are the Sunflower Maiden?"

Honoka jumps, her thoughts whirling back into motion. "Y-yes! I am! My name's Honoka and I tend to all the sunflowers. Who are you?"

"I am the Sun Maiden. I stand on this hill and watch over the sun as it makes its journey across the sky every day."

"Woah… I've never heard of a Sun Maiden before! That's so cool!" Honoka bounces up the hill, standing next to the girl and looking up at her in wonder. "But wait, you said you stand here every day? I've lived here almost my whole life, and I was even here yesterday, but I've never seen you before!"

"Really?" The Sun Maiden giggles, a pure sound that floats through the air. "Maybe if you look a little closer, you'll see that we've bumped into each other quite often."

"Hmmm…." Honoka squints her eyes to look at the girl, but she doesn't look any more familiar than before. "Well, if you say so! I'm glad to meet you! Would you like to share lunch with me?"

"I would love that, thank you."

Honoka sits down on the grassy hill, the Sun Maiden kneeling gracefully beside her. They eat a lunch of sandwiches and strawberries, talking all the while. Honoka learns the girl's name is Eli; Eli learns of Honoka's numerous friends and hears of all their antics.

"Do you have any friends?" Honoka asks, and Eli smiles wistfully up at the sky.

"I do, in fact. I have a friend who watches over dreams and a friend who watches over all the stars. I've gotten into quite a few arguments with that one, for the sun is also a star, but it's friendly banter for the most part."

"That sounds like a lot of fun! I never get to see my friends anymore, we all live so far apart. It gets a little lonely, to be honest." Honoka laughs with a tinge of sadness, then jumps back to her feet. "But don't mind me! That's not important. I'm afraid I do have to leave though. There are thousands more sunflowers to talk to."

"Of course. I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties. Thank you for the lunch, Honoka."

"No problem!" Honoka is halfway down the hill when she turns back. "Hey, Eli? It gets kinda cold at night, you know? So if you want, you can come back to my cabin with me for the night."

Eli looks surprised for a moment, then smiles. The sun turns her hair gold and Honoka finds herself speechless at the beauty. She barely hears Eli accept the proposal, only realizing what was said when Eli giggles at her shock.

"Ah, right! I'll meet you back here at sunset then!" Honoka trips over her feet as she walks backwards down the hill, waving at Eli until she tumbles into the forest of sunflowers.

The sky is painted orange and yellow when Honoka returns, and Eli looks sad as the sun disappears behind the horizon. Shadows darken the path as they walk home, but Honoka has lived here for a long, long time, and she knows the sunflowers will guide her back if she gets lost. Eli is less confident, jumping when the flowers brush against her at a gust of wind. She holds Honoka's hand tight.

Soon they emerge from the fields to Honoka's small home, stepping inside the cabin and sighing at the warmth. A fire burns in the fireplace, as always, and the smell of vanilla rises from its yellow flames. Eli traces the flowers embroidered into Honoka's quilt as they curl up underneath it. She's almost asleep when Honoka starts talking.

"Hey, Eli? Do you believe in magic?"

"What kind of silly question is that?"

"It's not silly!" Honoka's cheeks look funny all puffed up in indignation and Eli can't help but laugh.

"No, I suppose not. Well, what do you think magic is?"

"Um…. It's when strange things happen, right? When things that shouldn't be possible happen anyways."

"That's a good answer. Here's another question then: have you ever heard of a human?"

"No, what's that?"

"My friend, the one who watches over dreams, she told me about them once. They're people, just like us, who stare up at the sky and argue with friends and laugh at jokes. I bet some of them love sunflowers, too."

"Do they have their own Sunflower Maiden?"

"No. _You_ are their Sunflower Maiden. All these sunflowers you take care, they're spread across the human's world for them to see and smell. When you take care of them here, they grow taller and stronger there. They'd think you were pretty magical, taking care of thousands in one day. It's just not possible for them."

"Huh… that's really weird! So we're magic to them, then?"

"Possibly. Or my friends were making the whole thing up, those two like to play around. It's probably not true at all."

"Eli!" Honoka pouts, hitting Eli on the shoulder when she laughs. "That's not fair, you can't do that! That doesn't even answer my question about magic then."

"No, I suppose it doesn't." Eli looks out the window as she thinks, watching the stars twinkle. "Honoka? Is it okay if I come back here every night?"

"Of course! You can come back here anytime you want!"

"And can I call you my friend?"

"Definitely!" Honoka grins wide, her eyes bright, and Eli smiles too.

"And can I kiss you?"

"Ye– huh?"

Eli's eyes soften as she turns to Honoka. "Sunflowers always follow the sun, don't they?"

"Yeah…"

"Well what if it's the sun that follows the flowers?"

"What?"

"I've watched you for a long time, Honoka. Every day I see you, talking to the flowers and singing with the birds, always with a smile on your face. I've always admired you, and I've always wished to truly meet you, to be able to talk with you."

And Honoka remembers the tallest sunflower of all, its petals bright as the sun as it stands proudly on its hill, watching over everything below. She remembers the way it dances in the wind, the way it always seems to whisper its thanks when she cares for it, the way she can look up and see that it's always there, tall and strong and as old as the world. Honoka remembers, and she smiles.

"Yes, you may," she says, and the kiss is soft as sunshine and warm as summer, and Honoka decides that magic must be real after all.

In the morning they leave the house together, hand in hand, and watch the sunflowers raise their heads to receive their first kiss from the sun's rays.


End file.
